Hey folks, Harry here with Day 4 from Augustus Gloop. Again, we're not always seeing the same films - but we are enjoying one helluva FANTASTIC FEST! Here he is with the latest that he's seen. I'm off to get down there for the next screening. Adios...
Whew! It's actually 6:15am on Day 4 as I write these reviews for my selections from Day 3. Nothing like watching movies all day long followed by 3 hours bullshitting outside the Drafthouse about current and previous years' screenings, whether 300 sucked or didn't suck, and whether it means The Watchmen is going to suck. Now, it's noon as I finish. Having fallen asleep on the keyboard, I have to delete a couple hundred lines of the letter 'o' and elaborate on a couple of things before I send this off and get myself back down to the drafthouse for the next secret screening. Hard to believe we're not even at the halfway mark! -------------------------------------------------- Puppet (3 stars) -------------------------------------------------- Seven minute short based on Freud's description of the masochistic personality. This was a fun animated film about a guy who makes sock puppets, puts them on, and proceeds to beat himself silly with them. Several funny gags culminate in a kind of Sorcerer's Apprentice event, as he sprouts dozens more arms to beat himself. In fact, the score was very evocative of The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which must have served as inspiration for the film. -------------------------------------------------- The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (3 stars) -------------------------------------------------- The first thing I noticed about this film was the rich detail in every frame. Visually, it's an amazing piece that could have been mistaken for Miyazaki. In fact, it shares an art director with Princess Mononoke. With the exception of a couple of oddball pieces, the score is nearly perfect. The story, unfortunately, is a basic time-travel piece that fails to cover any new ground (though the source material dates to 1965). As the heroine learns through her time jumps that her actions can have unintended consequences, each attempt to repair the damage seems to end in more disastrous results (the Butterfly Effect). Occasionally, Makoto is advised by her family friend "Auntie Witch" who confides that she once time-jumped, herself, and that she had a lover from the future who promised he'd come for her but never returned. They missed an opportunity to make "Auntie witch" be an older version of Makoto herself, that travelled back and got stuck, aging normally until the present. Instead, she really is just a family friend who explored the same abilities as Makoto, with the same outcome. When all has come to disaster at the end, a poorly-explained deus ex machina pops up to give her one last chance to time travel and fix everything that has gone wrong. This was where the movie lost me. The ending was just too long and sappy, and lacked the twist that could have made this a much better piece of sci-fi. -------------------------------------------------- Southland Tales (5 stars) -------------------------------------------------- I need to sleep more on this one and give it a day or two of thought. It was a mindfull. -------------------------------------------------- The Demonology of Desire (3 stars) -------------------------------------------------- This was one fucked-up number. Portrait of a monster. In twenty two minutes, we explore one girl's sick idea of love and the miseries she feels are required to prove that it's real. I can't say it wasn't fun, but it was more of a snapshot to me than a story, depicting a night of horrible murders but with no explanation why young Ramona is so fucked up, nor what is to become of her. -------------------------------------------------- Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door (5 stars) -------------------------------------------------- This is based on a true story. Only someone coming from a background with a history of family violence could tell you how true. Watching the film, you might want to tell yourself how it's just a movie, and that they have exaggerated the events. People couldn't possibly be that horrible to inflict such abuse and torture on members of their own family. I'm here to tell you that yes, people really CAN be that evil. No one could leave the theater with completely dry eyes after this one, and it is the first I've seen at the Festival this year that I feel is likely to capture an Oscar. Working with children can be excruciatingly difficult, but Gregory Wilson has managed to coax performances out of ten or twelve of them that are believable reactions to events that must be filmed separately, out of view, due to child protection laws. I like the quote from Stephen King mentioned in the Q&A "This is Stand By Me on Crack." I have to recognize Caroll Baker, who has the largest part in the film as the man-hating, girl-hating witch of an aunt who ties up her niece for days without food or water, torturing her, even encouraging the boys to rape her. Ruth's rambling, self-loathing monologues cast a spell on the children and the audience as she descends into hate and madness. The look and feel of the 1950's is captured perfectly, not just in the costumes and scenery, but also the persona of each character. Most notably, Grant Show as one of the boys' father, plays a strong man of few words who could be considered misogynist by today's standards. He's really trying to be a good dad as he tells his son to never hit a woman... but sometimes, you have to slap her around some, when she steps out of line. After the show, many people talked about feeling as if they were participants in the torture themselves, and more than one said they would probably never want to see it again. I have to agree; The Girl Next Door is incredibly deep and difficult to watch, but everyone should see it, if only once. Augustus Gloop
